Scientists, ret. military discuss UFOs at Burlington man's conference

6/29/13 - Kent Senter, of Burlington, organized the 2013 Symposium on Official Scientific Investigations of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena/UFOs happening this weekend in Greensboro. Senter, a Burlington resident, has been fascinated with unexplained objects in the skies after several sightings over his lifetime. He wants the government to acknowledge and study the presence of UAP/UFOs.

Michael D. Abernethy

By Michael D. Abernethy

Published: Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 06:00 PM.

GREENSBORO — They came from around the nation and world to see Kent Senter’s wish come true.

That wish — a serious, scientific conference on UFOs — is happening all weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

Senter, who lives in Burlington with his wife, Linda, organized the Symposium on Official and Scientific Investigations of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena/UFOs. It runs through Sunday and features a former high-level NASA research scientist, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, a retired Belgian Air Force general and representatives of the French and Chilean governments who study UAP.

“We’re not talking about aliens. We’re talking about qualified scientists studying the topic of unidentified aerial phenomena,” Senter said Saturday. “I would love to see this government acknowledge that there is something unidentified in our airspace and to study it.”

Senter, 59, became interested in the subject after a series of sightings throughout his life, beginning at age 10. One of the most extraordinary occurred in Durham in the mid-’80s. He watched and followed three lights that hovered noiselessly in the pitch-black sky before slowly turning in place, revealing a rectangular bar of light before wavering and zipping away.

Diagnosed with blood cancer, now in the midst of his second battle, he believes his time is limited to get his questions answered or at least taken seriously by the U.S. government.

Among the several hundred who attended Saturday, “UFO” has become a dirty word. Richard Haines, a retired NASA scientist, called the term “pejorative.” Senter dislikes it because it conjures images of kooks chasing little green men. They use the term “UAP.”

GREENSBORO — They came from around the nation and world to see Kent Senter’s wish come true.

That wish — a serious, scientific conference on UFOs — is happening all weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

Senter, who lives in Burlington with his wife, Linda, organized the Symposium on Official and Scientific Investigations of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena/UFOs. It runs through Sunday and features a former high-level NASA research scientist, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, a retired Belgian Air Force general and representatives of the French and Chilean governments who study UAP.

“We’re not talking about aliens. We’re talking about qualified scientists studying the topic of unidentified aerial phenomena,” Senter said Saturday. “I would love to see this government acknowledge that there is something unidentified in our airspace and to study it.”

Senter, 59, became interested in the subject after a series of sightings throughout his life, beginning at age 10. One of the most extraordinary occurred in Durham in the mid-’80s. He watched and followed three lights that hovered noiselessly in the pitch-black sky before slowly turning in place, revealing a rectangular bar of light before wavering and zipping away.

Diagnosed with blood cancer, now in the midst of his second battle, he believes his time is limited to get his questions answered or at least taken seriously by the U.S. government.

Among the several hundred who attended Saturday, “UFO” has become a dirty word. Richard Haines, a retired NASA scientist, called the term “pejorative.” Senter dislikes it because it conjures images of kooks chasing little green men. They use the term “UAP.”

Ninety-five percent of all suspicious sightings in the skies can be explained by natural phenomena or military operations, speakers said. The remaining five percent can’t, they said, and often display technology and capability far more advanced than any known on Earth.

Topics covered Saturday ranged from a series of sightings by thousands near Eupen, Belgium, 20 years ago, to Haines, who warned of the potential dangers UAP pose to commercial and military aviation.

Haines detailed nine pilots’ reports of interaction with UAP since 1974. During some of those encounters, they reported that they lost control of their planes and seemed to be carried by the objects. Most of the objects weren’t detected by radar. They varied in size and shape — from discs and ovals to triangles the sizes of small planes, to those larger than naval aircraft carriers.

Haines believes there have been many more sightings but that most pilots don’t come forward out of fear of losing their jobs. Haines said governments ought to be investigating the sightings to reduce ridicule and to prevent mid-air collisions and crashes.

“I don’t want to frighten you out of flying. But I hope I will frighten you enough that you will get in touch with your local aviation officials and try to convince them there’s something serious going on,” Haines said.

Senter was once the head of North Carolina’s chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, which investigates reports of sightings and aerial phenomena. The group’s current president, Lakita Adams, said North Carolina’s chapter gets an average of three reports a week and has a log of 30 current sightings its volunteers are investigating. Most of those sightings have been along the coast but recently there have been sightings in the Piedmont. They began researching a report out of Alamance County last week, Adams said.

Senter called on more people to come forward about their sightings and for the media to assist them in seriously considering reports of sightings and government inaction on the subject. He doubts he will see his hopes realized in his lifetime but hopes his children will.

“By doing this, I feel a whole lot better,” Senter said. “I’ve accomplished the last big thing on my bucket list, which is to put this conference together without all the fringe groups and (talk of aliens). I have an open mind, but you just can’t prove that stuff. When you’ve seen what I’ve seen, you have to keep an open mind.”

For more information on UAP studies or the symposium, go online www.cufornc.com, the Center for UFO Research North Carolina, and www.mufon-nc.com, the Mutual UFO Network of North Carolina.

If you go:

The Symposium on Official and Scientific Investigations of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena/UFOs began Saturday and continues Sunday in the Terrace of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, next to War Memorial Auditorium.

Sunday’s speakers begin at 9:15 a.m. and include retired U.S. Air Force Col. Charles Halt, a representative of France’s bureau for UFO investigations, and a discussion of crop circles. A question-and-answer panel with both days’ speakers will end the conference.